Versace's Partner Remembers His Lost Love

Versace's long-time partner Antonio D'Amico opens up about life with the fashion icon 10 years after his assassination on Ocean Drive in South Beach early in the morning of July 15, 1997.

In an interview with Washington Blade, D'Amico says he was enjoying a beautiful day in Miami when he heard a shot. He ran outside and found his long-time partner, Gianni Versace, laying in a pool of blood on the steps of his South Beach palace, Casa Casuarina.

Eight days later, gay con man and serial killer Andrew Cunanan committed suicide on a houseboat in Miami Beach as the police was closing in to arrest him for the Versace murder.

D'Amico says Versace had affairs with other men early in their relationship, but he is sure Versace never had a relationship with Cunanan, even though it is possible the two men had met.

D'Amico was only 23 when he met Versace and he says it changed his life completely, "I had to choose between my job and something different. It took me months before making a decision. At the beginning, it was just a story between friends, I would say. He had a relationship with somebody, and I didn't want to put myself in the middle. Then, I worked in Japan for a while and when I returned, several calls from Gianni were waiting for me. He told me that his previous relationship was over, and he would like to know me better. He said that I was too young for him, but I was definitely mature and that he liked. I answered yes."

"One year later, we had a falling out. I realized that he was having an affair with another person at the same time, and that bothered me greatly. It was not about jealousy; the physical part can be upsetting, but it's not really important. It was more about the fact that everybody in the company knew and about personal pride. I confronted him. He could have all his freedom without me, and I left. He looked for me incessantly. We sorted things out, and we were able to get back together. That was the real beginning of our relationship."

About the devastating day he found his dying lover, D'Amico says, "It was not a day, just a moment, like lightening. I heard the shot, and I ran outside the house. I saw Gianni in a pool of blood. It was like somebody cut me in two parts with an ax. Complete darkness — and this pain in my stomach! Can you imagine? The day before we were in the swimming pool hugging, and he said to me: "You know, Tato, after all these years our relationship is still so solid and beautiful."

D'Amico says his relationship with the rest of the Versace clan is pretty much non-existing, "It's only through lawyers. The day they opened Gianni's will, Santo, Gianni's brother, immediately told me to get a lawyer. He made me sign a contract, which obliged me not to talk about the Maison Versace. I strongly refused to sign the same thing about Gianni as a person. I thought that would have been a big injustice. Donatella [Versace's sister] seems to be especially angry and resentful toward me. A few days ago, I was in Riccione, a resort on the beach of the Adriatic Sea, for a fund-raising event to benefit kids with handicaps. We were to have an auction with outfits belonging to Gianni for that purpose. The Versace family abusively sent their lawyers to stop the auction. It was just for the kids! The auction would have been no benefit to me. What could I do? We do not talk anymore. I sent my lawyers there, and they denied such allegations, but we have the proof."